Not only is the planet warming, it is also getting more humid according to the findings of a new scientific report published in the journal Nature.

The concern is, the more moisture in the atmosphere, the stronger the greenhouse effect, and that could mean bigger, more intense and damaging storms.

It will also result in an even drier landscape in some parts of Australia.

Until now, scientists have focused on rising temperatures at the Earth's surface and they have been unable to identify what is happening in the atmosphere.

Now they have got confirmation that as the heat intensifies and temperatures rise, so too does the level of moisture in the atmosphere.

A key author behind the report, Nathan Gillett, from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, says the humidity is increasing in line with predictions.

"Over the 27-year period that we looked at, the increase is about 2 per cent in the actual amount of water vapour in the atmosphere," he said.

"Looking into the future, we can expect much larger increases as the temperature continues to increase."

Human influence

By putting new data and observations into climate models, the team of scientists identified a significant global scale increase in humidity.

More importantly, they attributed this rise to mainly human influence.

Moisture or water vapour is a greenhouse gas and the concern is the more that accumulates in the atmosphere, the greater the greenhouse effect.

Janette Lindesay, from the Australian National University, says it acts to increase the signal of global warming.

"It retains extra heat within the atmosphere, and contributes to global warming," she said.

"So the more moisture we have in the atmosphere, the greater the global warming effect, than we would have if that wasn't the case."

Cyclone effect

Scientists say this increase in moisture will translate to greater and more intense tropical cyclones.

But CSIRO spokesman Mark Raupach says the increased rainfall will not be evenly distributed across the planet.

"We're seeing more humidity, but with that goes more rainfall, and more evaporation, that's the important thing," he said.

"Most of the extra rain falls in the tropics, some of it falls in the high latitudes, but the model predictions show that the mid-latitude belts, including the southern part of Australia, are actually going to experience drying."

Environmental groups say countries like Australia must now commit to deeper cuts in greenhouse gases.

Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Don Henry says science has been saying globally more has to be done now to reduce emissions.

"We've got to reduce emissions by probably 50 to 60 per cent by 2050 to have a reasonable chance of avoiding dangerous climate change," he said.

"This new scientific information may mean we've got to do more, and earlier."